Have your thoughts changed on buying physical products?

[willywonka666]

Like for entertainment-books, music, movies etc.

I know that in the past few years as products like the nook were introduced and Itunes there were many that said "I want the physical product in my hand" but have your feelings changed at all?

Mine certainly have. While I don't stream music, and I still buy old records, I have very little use or interest in buying cds. The last one I bought was about 5 or 6 years ago and I had it autographed.

The dvds I do have, I'm getting rid of in favor of online viewing for the space basically. if I had everything I wanted, I'd need another house. It's crazy

Same goes for books, as I'm not really an avid reader, I'm not opposed to reading online and getting rid of a bookcase.

So how about you? Have your feelings changed in recent years? Why? Why not?

[Spiderf 4]

I prefer physical media still, something that won't get deleted by some glitch.

But I will buy music digitally if I only want one song. I buy the actual CD if I want a whole album.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

My bookshelves are already overfilled to capacity so any physical books I buy need to be accompanied by getting rid of another book. Since I hate getting rid of books, I just don't buy them. Chicago Public Library is all I need for books. Long wait lists for the new and popular, but other than that it is great. You can even do e-books.

For movies, music and games? All digital, unless I find a really great sale.

[agent817]

Not quite changed, but it really depends with me. While I don't buy things digitally much, unless it's only available in that format, I still prefer the physical media. I still buy CD's and DVD's/Blu Rays, but then there are times when I would get stuff for free from the library. Like if I were to want to watch something without paying money, I would get it from the library. The same could be said about music. Also, buying comic trades really depends on how much I want to keep it. I prefer getting them from the library so I could read it and it saves a lot of money when doing so. Like if I really want, say, the full collection of trades, I will get the ones I want. But if I just want to read something, I will just request it from the library first. I decide if the comic is a keeper.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

I'm kinda half and half on it still.

I tend to buy physical console games, but most of my pc games are from steam and gog.

I got most of my music from iTunes, but did buy cds since my old car had a cd player my new one doesn't so I will probably won't anymore.

[Eunös ✈]

Honestly, I can't remember the last time I bought a Music CD. When I was younger I would buy music CDS all the time.

But all my album purchases are online now.

For me it's just a case of sticking it on an Ipod is much easier than carrying around a rack of CDS like I use to.

I will still occasionally buy the odd DVD from time to time but even then I don't buy them as much as I use to.

It's mainly things like Game of Thrones and Walking Dead I buy, I rarely buy movies.

[Ryback on a Pole!]

The only physical copies I tend to still buy is games because of the decent trade-in value and, given the download times. It's actually quicker for me to walk 10 minutes to the shop to buy a game than it is to wait for it to download.

Other than games though, I can't remember the last time I bought a physical copy of anything. Books I just use Kindle, songs I don't even buy... I just listen to them on youtube and movies/tv I use Netflix.

[Bo Rida]

I've softened massively.

Music and film mostly digital.

Games - Still prefer physical but as that's mostly because I want to ensure I can play them in years to come. However it's losing it's appeal as they're often in an unplayable state without patches, I have a massive PS+ library and indy games are mostly digital only anyway. Still high digital RRPs and the re-sell value of discs/carts make physical the better option.

Books - Physical all the way. Don't buy many though, all the reading made me smarter so I worked out using the library was the better option.

I just hope we'll continue to have the choice.

[FinalGwen]

With games, I'm still somewhat on the side of physical media. It kind of sucks that if I can still play licensed games from the 90s forever, but if I ever have a problem with my 360's hard drive, then I can never play Scott Pilgrim again because it was only released digitally while the license was around.

[Deleted]

I'm pretty much 100% digital at this point.

Comics - comixology all the way.
Movies -I'll buy the occasional bluray if I feel like the special features are worth it though, but mostly it's Netflix, Amazon digital rentals/purchases and I share a Vudu account with some of my GF's family members. Also, Vudu has a pretty cheap option ($2 I think) for transferring DVDs to a digital catalog.
Books -the local library has a good selection ebooks they lend out so it's all digital for that too.
Music - all digital, either bandcamp, amazon or directly from the musican's website if I can.

It's mostly a matter of clutter. I hate having stuff packed on shelves or in stacks or boxes on the floor. It just....I dunno - I get the appeal of physically having a disc or book, but the advantages of digital media (if your internet is reliable/fast) are too great.

I'm also much more likely to re-read a comic if I can just bring it up on my tablet rather than sieving through boxes.

I just took a trip and was able to watch/read/listen to everything from one device. I also take the subway to and from work - being able to upload a bunch of digital media to a device makes the commute A LOT more convenient.

I'm still behind the times though. Everyone around here is pretty much all-streaming, all the time. I still download music and transfer it to an mp3 player which is archaic by today's standards of streaming it right from Pandora or something.

Same with movies for me. I still dl stuff when I'm on the go - at home I'll stream movies though.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

May 15, 2017 10:26:54 GMT -5 @personman01 said:

Comics - comixology all the way.

Forgot to mention, yeah I'm like 99% comixology with my comic purchases.

I have picked up a few physical books but the clear majority are digital.

[Deleted]

I still want the product in hand, but I'm getting more used to digital only.

That said, I don't care for providers getting rid of digital content every so often - which still keeps me a physical copy guy.

[Vice honcho room temperature]

Games I prefer to buy them physically as I can resell them, I got that Best Buy thing so they are 20 percent off, and lend them to friends. Only exception is handheld games as it offers more variety on the go and I know I won't lose a game if I had to bring multiple cartridges. No idea how I'll play it on the Switch since its a hybrid. Movies I tend to get physical since those are mostly impulse purchases or collectors items as I don't buy alot of movies. Music I just tend to stream what I need or let the internet radio be random for me.

[agent817]

Man, I feel like I am among the few who haven't fully crossed over to digital media. However, I do get my music from the library and use them for "certain purposes."

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

I used to extremely anti-digital media, but have definitely softened alot the past couple years. 99% of my movies are still Blu Ray purchases, but I hardly ever buy CD's usually just use Apple Music. Games are about 50/50, I prefer physical but between PS+ and Games/Deals with Gold I've definitely got a huge collection of digital games. Sometimes those sales are just too damn good to pass up.

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

I've switched to 100% digital for music and am in the process of transferring my TV and movie collections to digital. For games I'm sticking with physical media for as long as it's an option, and books I prefer physical but will settle for digital.

[edgestar]

Some things, I like to have a physical copy of, and some things, I don't mind the digital copy

[ShaolinHandLock]

No, my feelings haven't changed at all. I've said this in the past, and I'll say it again now, but I collect physical media, and I refuse to buy anything digital. I only buy physical.

Heck, I've even added to it. My main way of listening to music is on CD, and I always used to buy the album on CD if I was interested enough in it, but I've added Vinyl to that now.

For movies/TV shows, it's either the DVD or Blu-ray. I always wait until they're cheaper, and unless I really really want to immediately see something, I usually wait until it gets cheaper.

For video games, I'm a console gamer, and again, it's only physical. And if a game is broken when released and needs patches or DLC then I won't buy it.

The only media I really consume digitally is on YouTube, and that's different as it's free and the content is unique to YouTube. The only other thing I do is occasionally download free legally released underground rap mixtapes, which are only released digitally. And whenever I'm interested in an album I may listen to a song or two on YouTube (or a little bit of each song) but never the full entire album.

Anyway, I only buy physical media, I've only ever bought physical media and buying digital media doesn't appeal to me at all.

PHYSICAL MEDIA FOREVER.

[wildojinx]

For books and music, i buy both physical and digital, but for movies/tv shows I stick to buying the dvd, though not as frequently as i used to. I do have a Netflix account and a Roku box, but I know that since Netflix and the other digital platforms only have selected movies (and some movies leave those platforms, never to return again). Not to mention that with digital media there's no way to trade in something.

[ayumidah]

Nah, I still only own like one or two things on digital, and I prefer everything else on CD or DVD. It's gonna be rough for me when they stop making DVDs and just do blu-rays.